Ceta Centauri
Ceta Centauri is the largest moon of Alpha Centauri b, and the only moon in the system to have an atmosphere and close to Earth-normal gravity. Some have argued that Ceta Centauri is in fact a twin planet and should not be considered a moon, but general concensus is that it still is a moon in its own right as it travels around its host planet. Planetary Description Ceta Centauri has a thick molton iron core that gives it gravity which betrays its size. Though a bit larger than Luna, Ceta Centauri has a surface gravity of .89G. It also has enough of an orbital velocity that it does not crash into Alpha Centauri B despite the fact that their gravity is much closer to one another than the size indicates. Ceta Centauri likely formed closer to the solar system's center and somehow made its way to ACb's location over millions of years of drift whereupon it locked in on its sphere of influence and orbits to where it is today. The moon is about 5.4 billion years old, meaning that it formed later on in the solar system's infancy. It presumably was hit by comets during its cooling stages gaining large amounts of liquid in the process. The moon is tectonically active and has five major plates that move below the ocean floor. On a planet with more of a landmass, such movements may cause a tsunami, but since a large part of Ceta Centauri's surface is covered by water, many earthquakes go unnoticed to those on the surface. Any land that is above the surface is hypothesized to be the remnants of ancient mountain ranges that were flooded. Because of such little landmass, it was difficult to look into the planet's climate history, but enough of an ice cap was present to allow core drilling. The planet had five separate ice ages separated by an interglacial period of about a hundred thousand years. Beyond this, it is impossible to know more since the caps degrade into water. The ice thickness between layers was as wide as three kilometers each. Using modern data, scientists determined that 'sea level' before was 20 kilometers below the current level. A sea floor does exist on the planet which has allowe scientists to look into the time before the floods. Large animals that resemble Blue Whales gracefully swim through the oceans. Marine biologists gave them the name 'noahites'. The thickness of the atmosphere is 1.5 times that of Earth. Surface temperatures are comfortable for many Humans ranging from -20 degrees Celsius to 30 degrees Celsius. Hurricanes between the ranges of Category 3 and 4 are common on Ceta Centauri. Fauna on the planet are mostly aquatic, but avian species also exist. They are usually based around the landmasses above the water and are extremely adapted to flying long distances between the island. Several animals known as 'macro-gulls' have wingspans of up to forty feet and can fly, land, and sleep on the water. Very few land-locked species are known. Category:Locations Category:Planet